Willamette Names Swick as Interim Head Baseball Coach

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University has named Aaron Swick as interim head baseball coach for the Bearcats during the 2008-09 academic year. Swick, who previously served as an assistant baseball coach at Willamette for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, will begin his duties immediately. Swick replaces Matt Allison, who resigned on Sept. 1.

"I'm really pleased that we were able to bring Aaron back to be our interim baseball coach," said Director of Athletics Mark Majeski. "He already knows many of our student-athletes and is familiar with the Willamette campus. He was active in recruiting during his two years as an assistant coach at WU and he will handle all aspects of the baseball program."

Swick has been an assistant coach with the Green Bay Bullfrogs of the Northwoods League the past two summers. In 2007, the Bullfrogs went 43-25 for the league's best overall record and became the first expansion team in Northwoods League history to qualify for the playoffs. The Northwoods League is a sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league.

During the 2007-08 academic year, Swick was a graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State University. He also worked on a master's degree in Sports Pedagogy.

Swick played college baseball at Saddleback College and at the University of California-Berkeley. While attending Cal, he was a key pitcher and achieved a 1.86 earned run average as a senior. He graduated from Cal with a bachelor's degree in Political Science.

He also pitched for two seasons at Saddleback. He was named All-Conference as a sophomore, when he helped Saddleback go 35-13 for the season.

In the summer of 2006, Swick was interim head coach for the Wilson Tobs in the Coastal Plain League. In the summer of 2007, he became the pitching coach in Green Bay. During his three-year career as a collegiate and summer league coach, he has coached 14 players who have gone on to compete in professional baseball.